In message , James Farrar
writes
Does anyone know what this particular euphemism actually means?
Travelling home last night on the Picc, we sat between South Ken and
Gloucester Road for what must have been close to half an hour, due to
(according to the driver) "passenger action at Hammersmith, passenger
action on a train at Barons Court, and a punch-up on a third train".

Now, being the cheeky bar steward that I am, I'm going to see what
happens to a Charter claim for that debacle - nearly two hours from
Mile End to Northfields via Holborn - I'd have been better to stay on
the Central line all the way to EB and walk!

Passenger Action doesn't really have a definition, it's a description
the message passer chooses to describe what they are being told. It
usually involves a punch up, passenger taken ill on a train or possibly
a one-under.

All are valid examples of passenger action and the generic term may be
used by the driver to protect the sensibilities of sensitive passengers.

What you describe above, suggests passenger alarms used for no good
reason (each of those can easily take 5 mins to deal with) or a fight.
A fight near a platform edge would suspend the service in case someone
ends up on the track, and will usually cause a total shut down until BTP
arrive to deal.

I tend to try and be as accurate as possible with announcements without
using the 'some prat has just jumped under a train' description, even
though that's what I (and, I suspect, most of the train) may be
thinking. Some drivers will just use the generic Passenger Action and be
done with it.
--
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